Prologue
Not a soul in sight. It’s just me lying peacefully under a big tree. It’s a harsh afternoon—for me at least. The sun seems to be feeling a bit violent today, making it quite hot to even do something. Or that’s purely my laziness talking. Either or, I have this urge to have a quick nap under this tree. The leaves rustle lightly whenever a soft breeze hit the branches, making the tree play a lovely lullaby for me to sleep. Occasionally, there will be birds chirping alongside that lullaby. Who wouldn’t want to have a quick rest under this tree? The aperture between the sunlight and the leaves on the tree is a bit scarce, so I wouldn’t worry one bit of a streak of sun hitting my eyeballs.
But there are times my peaceful moment will be interrupted by something. That something can sometimes be annoying or a present from the universe. The familiar voice calling my name is an example of a generous present from the universe, mainly because that same voice brings a smile to my face every time we talked to each other. Like any other day, I pretend to sleep to what will the voice do and at the same time tease them.
“Hey, Vydor!” I let out a mental sigh at the sound of my name from her lips. It really does sound perfect from her voice. But that beautiful wouldn’t stop me from faking my sleep. I’ll do every chance I get to tease her. “Come on, wake up!” Her voice seems to get closer and closer, but it doesn’t sound annoyed. It just sounds… Urgent. Like she needs me to wake up and tell me something. I hope that something is incredible news. But who am I kidding, being her boyfriend is the most inconceivable thing that happened to me. So, whatever she wants to tell me, it wouldn’t be as unbelievable as the moment we’ve exchange our feelings to one another. “I know you’re not really sleeping, you’ve done that antic far too many times.” I still pretend to be asleep because what else should she do. Hit me with a stick? “If you don’t open your eyes in this second, I’ll hit you with this stick I’ve picked on the ground.”
I silently scoff at the thought of her trying to hit me with a stick. She wouldn’t do that. I’ve known her since we were children, and there’s no way she’ll hurt someone. She’s considered to be a cinnamon bun. But the sudden pain coming from my leg had told me otherwise. I’ve opened my eyes while my face wince in pain as my vision take in the gorgeous woman who just hit me with a stick. “What the fuck, Gail?” With that stick in her right hand, she looks like a discount version of Ciri from The Witcher.
She drops the stick on the grassy floor and crossed her arms together like a preschool teacher frowning at her obstreperous children. “Stop looking at me like that. I did warn you before I strike the stick on your leg.” She did warn me, but I didn’t believe at her warning that she’ll actually do it. I guess that’s my fault.
I raise both my hands in a mock surrender, “In my defense, I did not anticipate you actually hitting me with a stick.”
She rolls her baby blue eyes at me, “Next time it would be a thick encyclopedia if you keep on pretending to sleep while I call you.”
Because of her ability of hitting me with a stick, I’ve realized that I should believe her that she’ll bring a thick encyclopedia next time. The thought of getting hit by an encyclopedia is quite terrifying and painful to even imagine. Pulling my mind away from that warning of hers, I place my thoughts back to the reason she’s calling me and interrupting my peaceful moment with nature—or other cliché about peaceful moment. “So, why did you interrupt the troll under the tree?”
She scoffs the moment I’ve described myself as a troll. “Don’t call yourself a troll.” She takes a step forward until she’s beside me under the tree. Her hands hold on to the tree as she lower herself to the ground.
“Fine, is it because I’m much more handsome than an actual troll?” I grin out my arrogance at her.
“I don’t know, I can name some trolls that are more handsome than you.” She stares her baby blue eyes towards the opening between the leaves and the clear sky above us.
If I’ve given a choice to watch paint dry or watch her all day, I would—undoubtedly—choose the latter every day. But to clarify, I would not watch her creepily like some kind of deranged stalker. I would watch her with admiration if I’ve given a chance. “Oh yeah, name a troll that’s more handsome than me.” I cross my arms as I adjust my voice to sound jealous.
Without hesitation whatsoever, she’d turn her gaze towards me with a massive grin. “Branch from the Trolls Movie.”
I narrow my eyes because I know for a fact why she’d said that, “Is it because he’s voiced by Justin Timberlake?” She nods slowly, making her light ash blonde hair shake a bit alongside the sudden rustling of leaves. “Should I begin to be jealous by a fictional character in a children’s movie?”
She tore her eyes away from mine, “I don’t know. Do you want to start acting jealous by a fictional character in a children’s movie?” When she gazes back at me, she begins to flutter her eyelashes.
Now I’m feeling a bit of jealousy towards the goddamn troll because of how she mocks me. “I know for a fact you didn’t just interrupted my peaceful nap—”
“Pretending to have a peaceful nap,” She raises a single finger in front of my face as if correcting me.
I drag her hand down with my hands and ended up holding her same hand for the duration of me finishing my sentence. “As I was saying, you didn’t just wake me up to make me feel jealous about a fucking troll in a children’s movie.”
She chuckles without a care in the world, making random passerby gazing towards our direction. “You’re right, I didn’t ‘woke you up’—” She’d broken free from my hold on her hand to raise it and make air-qoutes, “—just to make you jealous in the most ridiculous way.”
It’s my time to roll my eyes because why did I fucking feel jealous over a troll..? I’m a bit disappointed to myself for that reason. “So why did you wake me up, Gail?”
I watch the joy in her blue eyes fade away before she could even tear her gaze away from me. Now that makes me wonder if something had gone wrong the time I wasn’t with her. My heart thrashes violently in my chest, imagining what had happened to her that makes the joy in her soul fade away.
When she gazes back at me, the joy is back in her eyes, but it’s not the same as when we’ve talked about that God-forbid jealousy towards a troll. “I’ve heard your screenplay have been approved by the Drama Club.” She plasters a smile, but because of what I’ve witnessed earlier from her expression, the smile looks forced. It’s like she’s doing her best to keep on smiling despite the whatever she’s going through.
Even though I want to ask her what had happened before she’d found me under this tree, I’ll bite her attempt of a distraction. “Yeah, once I’ve given the Drama Club leaders the script they’ve read it within 3 days then told me they’ve approved it.”
It seems this news is enough to keep her mind off whatever she’s hiding from me. Her smile grows wider by every second her mind takes in the news I’ve given her. “What were their emotions when they read your screenplay?”
“Honestly, I don’t know if they’re being genuine about it, but one of them did tell me that he shed a tear while reading the ending.”
She playfully punches my shoulder while a chuckle escapes her lips, “See, I told you. Having a happy ending can also make people cry.” That made me smile despite the aching need to ask her what’s wrong. I usually aim to make people cry whenever I write screenplays, hence every screenplay I’ve written so far have tragic endings. But one day, Gail persuaded me to try to give one of my screenplay a happy ending. I was adamant on that idea at first, but she pointed out that people also cry if the screenplay has their long-awaited happy ending through whatever tragic story it was about. So, I began to attempt to mold a happy ending to one of my already written screenplay. I’d made sure to let Gail be the first person to read it before I submit the screenplay to my leaders in the Drama Club. I didn’t anticipate the leaders to approved it, but here we are talking about it being approved. “Since it has been approved, when will the Drama Club present it?”
Another smile tugs on the corners of my lips. She always watches every single play in the Drama Club, especially when that play is based on my script. Her undying love towards theater play made me realized that I’m the luckiest bastard to have her in my life. “We’ve actually had a meeting about that issue earlier, and they concluded that they’re going to act the play next week.”
Whatever thing she’d hid from me earlier have resurfaced in her eyes. I notice that she had begun to fidget her fingers together, a clear sign she’s feeling nervous to spill something to me. “Next week, huh?”
Okay, I had enough. I need to know the reason for her sadness. “Gail, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s just that… I wouldn’t be able to see your screenplay being present in the theater next week.” She continues to fidget her fingers, and I have a feeling that she’s hoping I’ll just accept that answer of hers without any need for clarifications.
But what she didn’t know that her answer had only left me with more questions. “What do you mean you wouldn’t be able to watch it next week? You always watch the theater play on every opportunity you get.”
A harsh laugh escapes from her throat as she puts her gaze back towards the space between leaves of the tree. A leaf slowly falls down, and she seems to be fixated on watching it hit the ground. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t be able to watch it next week.” Once the lone leaf fall lightly on the ground, the words she about to blurt out next wasn’t what I was expecting. “Or any future play the theater will present.”
Instinctively, my hands went straight to hold hers tightly, as if my body already knew what will happen without my mind have any idea what. “Gail, I have a feeling you’re not telling me the whole thing here.”
She lets out a sigh before gazing back at me, “My parents had found out.”
Here’s where the cliché goes. Her parents, a.k.a. snobby rich parents, that employed by mother to be a cleaning maid. As the cliché goes, they also did not approve for their daughter to date someone who isn’t as rich. I swear, this relationship we have seems to indicate we’re part of a cliché love story. “What do you mean they’ve found out?”
“They’ve found out that I’ve been hanging out with you despite them warning me to, and I quote—‘Stay away from that boy craptastic boy’ but I continue to not listen to them and now…” She pushes out a sob from her throat, and I can see her determination to fight back the tears that are forming in her blue eyes. I hold on to both of her hands tightly because my mind finally can sense what’s next. “By tomorrow morning, they’ll transfer me to a new school.”
The disbelief in my face doesn’t look fake at all. It feels genuine because how dare they dictate what will happen to her? “They can’t do that, you still need to finish your year here!”
“I’ve already told that argument to them, but they don’t care, as long as they keep me away from you.”
I swear, if hurting someone physically isn’t a crime, I would have punched some sense in her parents. This is because they found out that I’m the son of their maid. The same maid that work her whole life to make me finish my academics. And now they’ll take the only thing that gave me motivation on my passion to write a panoply of screenplay and a source of my undying love and adoration. “Fuck their decisions towards your life. Rebel against their choices towards your faith, don’t let them control you.”
“I would love to rebel against my parents, Vydor, but I can’t. They’re still my parents, and you know how goddamn important it is to have your family.” The tears in her eyes have finally burst out of their cell and decide to spread across her smooth cheeks and down to her chin.
I reach out my hands to wipe some of her tears away, but they keep on dripping down on her face. The aching pain of seeing her cry this much is agonizing. She’s right though, family is important to me since they’re the reason I’m here in this great school. My mom working hard as a maid while my dad work as a delivery guy. But for her parents, it’s different. “Is it really a family if your parents keep controlling your life instead of supporting your own decisions?”
She didn’t say anything after what I just said. Instead of forcing her to rebel against her snob parents, I pull her closer to me and let her forehead rests on my shoulder. She releases a sniffle against my clothes. I suddenly didn’t care if my clothes got ruined by this, all I care right at this moment is to make her feel better.
We sat like there for what feels like an hour. I appreciate those passersby didn’t even try to look judgmental when they saw us sitting like this under the big tree. Some of them have sympathy shining in their curious eyes, while some didn’t really mind or aren’t concerned about their fellow student. Right after Gail pushed away from me, my mouth immediately want to speak. “If you wish to follow your parents orders, I won’t bug you anymore.” I cup both of her cheeks with my hands and force her to look at me. A faint smile shines through her tired face. “But I promise you, one day—I don’t care how long it will take—we’ll meet again, and we’ll be together again.”
Another tear slip down from her eyes, but it doesn’t look like a tear of sadness. It’s more like a tear of joy. Seeing her blue eyes shine with the same joy I’ve seen from her again makes my whole body relax. “I really hope one day we’ll be able to find each other again, Vydor.”
My body moves automatically as I plant a soft kiss on her lips, “I love you, Gail. And I will look for you after all of these shit with your parents fade out. I’m not going to give up until we’re together again.”
